King of Aura
by Miss Kioshi
Summary: What if Lucario hadn't pushed Ash far enough from the aura sphere, would things have changed? Alternate ending to the pokémon movie: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew. Reconstructed on 2nd of June 2011. read the first chapter for specifics
1. Disclaimer

Disclaimer; I do not own Pokémon, neither the characters nor the places and or names. The copyright goes to their respective owners, of whom I am not one of. I do own this plot and any characters, names and places you do not recognize. I do not earn any money from writing this story, I write it for my own pleasure and that of my readers.

I am currently both writing and re-writing this story. No major changes are being made, I am only ridding this story of its grammar faults as much as I am able to. I am also joining chapters together to get more readable chapters. To my current readers; I hope this will cause no problems for you if it does please contact me. I wish to cause you no inconvenience.  
To my upcoming readers; please enjoy my story and give me pointers where you think I need them.


	2. The movie recaptured

**The movie recaptured**  
"The aura is with me", Lucario said through telepathy. His voice even though only in their heads sounded strangely confident and fearful at the same time. With his paw he reached out to Mew and concentrated. If one would ask what he was thinking of, well, I would say nothing. Pushing his aura outwards, it began to form a slowly growing ball of blue energy. This swirling energy began to slowly envelope mew.

Looking at Lucario it was for sure that with every second it became harder to maintain this ball of aura. Not too long after the ball stop increasing, it even started to decrease in size. Lucario's paw snapped away from Mew. He looked disappointed in himself.

"It's not working I'm not strong enough", Lucario said. It was then that Ash decided to step in and help Lucario. "You remember what you said about me before?", Ash asked while not even waiting for an answer, he turned his back to Lucario and went to grab Lucario's former master's gloves. The gloves that had helped save the tree once before, by lending a means to give Aaron's aura to Mew.

Not even hesitating once ,ash put on the gloves, which fit like they were made for him. With enough confidence to help both him and Lucario he looked at Mew.

"You said my aura was like sir Aaron's", ash said, "it's time to test if that's really true." Ash said no more. He closed his eyes to create utmost concentration. Both of his hands now reached out to Mew. Even though Ash had no real training in the field of aura he managed to create a swirling ball of aura just like the one Lucario produced earlier. It took al lot of concentration to maintain the ball, let alone to make it increase in size. Nevertheless it did increase.

Pikachu not knowing how it could stop his master from destroying himself, just gave a small whisper of disagreement. Kidd however would have nothing of Ash destroying himself, while trying to save both the tree and mew.

"No! It's too dangerous!", Kidd said desperately trying to stop Ash, "You'll end up destroying yourself. It was Ash's mind was cut off from reasonable decisions, or rather he couldn't be stopped when he had a good motive. "If I don't do this the tree will DIE!", Ash said forcefully, "and so will the Pokémon that live here!" It was like saying, 'Kidd you don't want to murder these Pokémon, do you?' Kidd was taken aback with the way Ash threw her argument aside. Lucario however was inspired, he couldn't understand why a human, with no real connection to the tree of Beginning or it's kingdom, would give it's life to save both tree and Pokémon. "Ash?"

"I'm not going to give up!", Ash said probably more to himself that the bystanders. He looked exhausted and one could clearly hear that he was out of breath. Pain was visible on his face and could be heard in his voice. He would not last much longer alone.

In that second something snapped inside Lucario's mind. Lucario pushed both paws forward and closed its eyes. An orb of aura started forming between these paws. Energy swirling with newly found hope. Both orbs grew as a product of somewhat sharing emotions between both aura users. They pushed their orbs forward to envelope Mew with their strength.

No longer were there two separate orbs, it had become one orb that could envelope Mew with ease. The surrounding rocks began to crumble away and both Kidd and Pikachu were worried about their friends, who were currently exposed to their physical limits.

Ash and Lucario's bodies and minds were emptied of their aura. Their bodies protested heavily by spasm sent through their bodies. Groans, squeaks and moans could be heard echoing in the rocky halls of the tree of beginning. A green flow of energy began to envelope and heal Mew.

In an instant Lucario had pushed Ash away from the sphere and took control of it himself. Ash had landed forcefully on his bottom, his facial expression screamed, 'shocked'. "Leave the rest of this to me Ash.

Ash however would do no such thing, which later on may prove to be better. Ash climbed to his feet and ran to the orb to stand next to Lucario. "Lucario!", Ash said while raising his hands. "No Ash! The aura is with me!" With no gloves on however it was even harder for Ash to bring his aura to the sphere.

Ash managed to bring his aura forward and join the sphere, which began to glow intensely. Both aura users groaned one more time before the sphere changed it color to green and went to heal Mew. Mew and the aura sphere then released themselves from Lucario and Ash. Mew flew to the centre of the tree and shared it's gathered strength with its symbiotic companion. Both the tree and Mew were now being healed by the combined aura of Ash and Lucario. Everywhere in the country the crystals that were linked to the tree began to glow an eerie green color. In no time everything was back to how it should be.

Mew then came out of the centre of the tree again and happily began to circle the heroes and even hugged Pikachu. "Thank you Mew", Kidd said, "I see you're feeling a lot better now!" Pikachu had taking up its usual place on its masters and friends shoulder.

"You solved the mystery of the tree of beginning and helped to save it", a voice from Kidd earphone said, "the media is going to eat this up, alright." Mew happily swirled around a few more times. "No thanks", Kidd said while smiling at Mew, "I don't want this place to be ruined by tourists." "All right, what you want!"

At that moment both Lucario and Ash couldn't hold the exhausting back anymore. Both fell over. The strangest thing however was that none of them were having spasms anymore. To Ash it felt like normal exhaustion. They couldn't linger on it too longer however, because both Ash and Lucario fell unconscious. Their breaths dropped drastically and so did their heart rate. They had fallen into a coma.

* * *

This first chapter is mainly the converting of the end of the movie into the written form. From here onward things are going to change. It did my best trying to make it resemble the movie as much as I could! I hope you like it, cause this plot bunny has been bugging me for some time! Haha… well if you notice any grammar or spelling mistakes, MY FAULT! I'm not perfect, and not even native English so…Enough of my ranting…  
Edit (2-6-2011); I hope to have cleared this chapter of any lingering grammar and spelling mistakes now. No major changes in this chapter. I was quite content with this.


	3. Empty minded

**Empty minded?**  
It felt like hell. No wait! It felt even worse than hell. His body wouldn't move and his eyes refused to open. Strangely there was no sound to be heard. No birds, no people, nothing that indicated that there was something besides him.

It felt like days just lying around eyes closed. Though he felt like he was recovering of whatever had held his body in this state. He could muster the strength to move his fingers and toes sometimes even to move as much as his whole arm. Though without his sight he had no idea of time. He didn't know day or night, minute or hour. Even though the pain had decreased a lot it wasn't totally gone yet. It also meant that whenever he tried to move something bigger than his lower arm, the movement was usually accompanied with feelings of pain.

Apart from lying around he couldn't do much else then thinking about what had landed him in this position. He knew the tree and Mew were alright, but he was worried about Lucario. Was he facing the same fain filled nothingness as he was? He should hope not.

After what felt like ages he could find the strength to open his eyes. To his disappointment it didn't give him that much information about his whereabouts. The sky, if you'd like to call it that was black and the only thing that made it differ from the land was that said land was strangely blue colored. It wasn't to be mistaken for water, because this ground was solid.

He rolled over, but none of his efforts helped him to find out where he was nor could he find out how he had ended up in this bizarre wasteland.

His recovery was progressing quickly and soon he was able to sit and even stand for small amounts of time. It was like learning to walk all over again. His muscles felt unused and it made him wonder how long he had been laying around.

Walking around couldn't satisfy his need for answers either, because either there was nothing there or everything was avoiding him including the sea and mountains, because those were nowhere to be seen either. There was no sun and no stars, so there was no way of figuring out which way was north and which was south. This definitely put a stopper on his travels.

The absence of clockwork was beginning to really bug him. With no way of knowing the time his sleeping patterns were forcefully disrupted and because of his curiosity it was only natural to feel less sleepy.

And as he hadn't eaten in well, he didn't know how long, and he didn't feel hungry, he figured something must have stopped the hunger, thirst and sleep feelings.

What in the beginning was only thought to be his imagination was proven to be real, were the voices that were whispering things like, "Get better soon" and "You'll fight your way out of this". Even though the voices were only whispers he could link the voices to his friends. This brought his hopes of leaving this place back on track. The voices however didn't seem to be coming from anywhere near him and echoed strangely in his ears, but there was one voice that didn't echo or sound strange.

"Ash?", he heard. The voice sounded like it came from close by. "Can you not even have a proper mindscape?", the voice he now recognized as Lucario's asked. He began running in the direction he thought the voice came from. Soon Lucario's form came into view and not too long after that he could see the Pokémon as good as he could see his own hand. "Lucario, what happened? How are you? And well.. where are we?", Ash asked his sentence making almost no sense because it was spoken so fast.

"I am fine Ash", Lucario said in his usually stoic voice, which left no room for discussion even though he probably looked as bad as Ash did, "after the tree was saved, we both fell into a deep sleep. Your friends and the queen tried to wake us up, but couldn't manage to wake you. As I am a Pokémon it was easier to wake me." Ash nodded and motioned for Lucario to sit, he still had a lot of questions. "Then how are you here, if I'm the only one that's in a coma?"

"That's a different matter. When I was trying to use my aura to reach your mind, I got sucked into your mindscape." Ash really got confused by this, "My mindscape? You mean that this wasteland is my MIND?" Lucario sat down and continued, "Normally the persons aura shapes ones mindscape and as all Pokémon and humans have aura they all have a mindscape. Each mindscape is different as is each aura, except the aura of the guardians." Ash looked around, this was his mindscape, "But my aura was the same as Sir Aaron's, does that mean we have the same mindscape?"

Lucario shook his head, "No, as I said the aura of each guardian is the same, but not their mindscape, the emotions and dangers someone has faced shapes his mindscape, his aura however is already set in stone."

"Guardians have the same aura? Then you mean to say I am a guardian. Am I a guardian of the queen then, must I protect her at all times?" Ash didn't look forward to guarding the queen at all times. He would be honored of course, but also disappointed because he wouldn't be able to continue his Pokémon journey. "You are not a guardian of the queen. You are a guardian of aura! Destined to protect those in need."

"I am a guardian of Aura?", Ash asked, "just like Sir Aaron?" Lucario nodded grimly, thinking back, "But Sir Aaron betrayed the belief of the guardians , because he left the battlefield in a time of need for both Pokémon and human. He betrayed my trust and that of the kingdom's." The anger Lucario felt was visible in his change of posture. His hands had curled into fists and his face was smeared with rage, which the Pokémon would normally keep at bay.

"How was… euhh- How were the guardians trained? I mean to be a guardian one must have been trained?', Ash asked carefully, but not hiding the interest in his voice. "Of course the guardians were trained", Lucario answered with indignation, "one cannot just use the ways of Aura untrained. "Ash did nothing but nod at him for Lucario to continue, "each guardian would take on a student whether that student was family or no relation at all didn't matter. What did matter, however was that the student could fully trust their teacher for they would end up sharing their most private emotions and memories.

The student had to take several test, to prove he would be a good guardian of Aura. In the end the student would have to pledge his loyalty to the Pokémon and humans, to always protect the weak and fight evil. Then when the student was grown up and knew his end was drawing near, he would search for a student and teach him the ways of Aura.

In the beginning girls, even when they had an aura that was above average in strength, weren't allowed to become guardians and since Aura powers are somewhat genetic it was found a sin if a mother bore a girl.

Later in however, there were less and less Aura users born. They dismissed the rule as inappropriate and old-fashioned. Nowadays teachers are lucky if they find themselves a student at all.", Lucario explained. Ash found himself fascinated by the ways of Aura and couldn't help himself asking more questions, "there aren't many of you left then?", he missed the disappointment that crossed Lucario's face," though if you could, I mean… well," Ash stammered on. Ash managed to pull himself together before trying again, "Will you teach me in the ways of Aura?", ok it was out, he had asked it , "I mean will you be my teacher?"

Lucario didn't look excited though, his face showed a grim smile and his voice stuttered. Lucario turned his face away from Ash, "I can't teach you Ash", he said giving no reason why it couldn't be done. Ash looked dumbfounded and gave his companion a questioning look, "I can't teach you, "Lucario said forcefully, leaving no room for discussion. Ash decided to back off, for now.

Ash let himself fall backwards, looking up into the pitch black sky, wondering why Lucario had reacted so badly to his last question. He didn't dare say something and the silence turned even more awkward.

Meanwhile Lucario looked as if he was fighting a battle with himself, his face was tense with concentration and his eyes were closed. Apparently Lucario had convinced himself he could talk to Ash about whatever was bothering him.

"I can't teach you , because I'm no guardian myself. I was Sir Aaron's apprentice", he spat out that name like it was venom," he never finished my training. And well, since I've been locked up in that staff I've had no time to search for a new master, though I don't expect to find one. The queen said she hadn't seen a guardian ever, though her mother used to tell her about them."

Ash nodded looking fairly disappointed, but nevertheless accepting that he might never become a real guardian of Aura. He felt sorry for Lucario too, he was betrayed and couldn't become what he had trained so hard to be.

Ash tried to read the emotions present on the Pokémon's face, but was shocked to find that Lucario was slowly becoming transparent. His whole body was disappearing into small pieces of light. "I'm waking up from my trance, I will see you soon", he said before he vanished completely.

The sky was still pitch black and there was still no one but Ash there, but something inside of Ash had changed. He found he had another purpose in life, something that was both selfless and selfish. He decided that if Lucario couldn't help him train, he would train himself to become the best guardian the world had ever seen.

There was this problem however that he didn't know a thing about Aura apart from what Lucario had told him. He had no idea where or how to start training. He didn't know what could and what couldn't be done with Aura. Did Aura rely on the person's mental fitness or upon the person's willpower? Ash didn't know, so he decided to do what he thought to be the easiest exercise.

Ash went to sit cross-legged on the bluish black ground of his personal mindscape, folded his hands together and placed them on his lap. He closed his eyes for concentration. Only once before had he accomplished in bringing forth his Aura without the use of gloves or time-flowers . It had happened in a time of great need, so Ash had expected it to be a bit more difficult now but this was preposterous. He couldn't even form the smallest sphere of Aura. Somewhere inside Ash it hit a nerve, 'How could he expect to become the best guardian ever if h couldn't even form a small ball of Aura?' His anger came to the surface and washed away his concentration.

"Why won't it work?", he asked angrily. Unknown to Ash, he had found the key to unlock his Aura in letting his emotions free. The palms of his hands began to glow a strange blue color. What started as two spheres the size of a ballpoint point ended up as two Ping-Pong-ball sized balls of energy. Ash anger faded away as did the spheres of Aura. "I get it!", Ash called out in happiness, "Aura is tied with emotions."

* * *

Anyway, I had some serious dictionary moments this chapter so I hope you won't notice to much grammar or spelling mistakes if you do MY BAD! Haha… no I mean it. English is not my native language so forgive me. My exams are almost over now so I hope I'll be uploading chapter quicker from now on. See ya!

Edit (2-6-2011); As some of you may have noticed I put chapter 1 and 2 together to make a longer chapter. I have also tried to clear out any spelling and grammar mistakes.


	4. When the mind flourishes

**When your mind flourishes**  
Meanwhile, Lucario had woken up from his trance. He was lying in the castle's ward in the same room as Ash's body was currently in. He had specially requested upon this, because it made connecting to Ash's mindscape a lot easier.

There was no one else visiting this part of the castle. Well, apart from the doctor, Ash's friends and the queen. The queen visited whenever she could, but with her duties she could rarely be missed. He did find it her responsibility to check upon Ash once a day, it was her kingdom after all that Ash had helped saving.

As the curtains were open, the first rays of sunlight had woken Lucario up. He slowly got out of the extremely white bed. His paws making contact with the cold stone floor. Upon closer inspection of the room, he found a plate of Pokémon food on his bedside table. He ate some of it and put the rest back on the table.

Three Aura's alerted him to the fact that Ash's friends were approaching the ward. Not long after Lucario had noticed the Auras the door to the ward opened and revealed three people. Brock stood in the front and had to push the smaller two into the room. The three of them had worried looks on their faces.

"Lucario, has Ash woken up yet?", Max asked. Lucario shook his head, there needn't nothing to be said. Both Brock and May left the ward soon after saying some kind words to Ash. Max however didn't leave just yet.

"You've spoken to him haven't you?" Max stated rather then asked. "Let's just say we've had a very emotional conversation, which I'd rather not talk about right now." Lucario answered evading the object of their talk. "How is he then?", Max asked sounding concerned.

A small smile appeared on Lucario's face before he answered, "Your friend is fine. He has a fairly strong Aura. So his Aura was powerful enough to bring him to his mindscape when he got exhausted from using his Aura in the tree of beginning. That's why he's currently in a comatose state."

Max nodded, fascination was swirling in his eyes, "but if his own Aura has brought him into this state, can't he just come out of it? I mean, it's his own Aura, right?" It sounded like a reasonable argument, it was far from the truth however.

"His Aura protected him from exhaustion, the next step is to convince Ash's Aura that he's fine now. You can think of his Aura as a mother right now. She won't let her child go, unless it's ready for it." Max smiled at the thought of Ash having another overprotective mother. Hopefully this mother would soon decide that her child is ready for the real world again.

"Ash will have to show his Aura that he's ready," Lucario said, "there's nothing we can do for him now, but give him a reason to work hard and wake up by talking to him. There's nothing I can do for him until tomorrow night, I'm to weak to reach his mindscape again tonight."

Max had hope that Lucario could talk to Ash tonight, because that would mean Lucario would have more information. "Do you mind if I stay here until the doctor comes?" "Of course not", Lucario said and he motioned for Max to sit down in one of the chairs, "I was just going to look for something to eat anyway", Lucario said. It wasn't the whole truth, but now he thought about it, the Pokémon food from earlier hadn't quite lessened his hunger.

Max had gotten into a comfortable position as soon a Lucario had left the ward. He had pulled his legs up, placed his feet on the chair and wrapped his arms around his legs. "Ash, you know. Ever since you are in a coma… I really make it sound like it's been years, while it's only been a week, it certainly feels like years though, oh my I'm rambling", Max was sure if Ash had heard him he'd be laughing at him rambling, "well, May and I are usually fighting, but ever since you are in coma, I feel like we're no group anymore. You were usually the one that kept us busy, even if we got lost thanks to you, you were the one that pulled us trough every though situation we encountered."

He took a break to take a deep breath and composed himself again, "since you've been in coma, I've felt left out by May and Brock. They've become closer than friends and well, May's been treating me like trash since then. The worst is that Brock acts like nothing is wrong. I don't know how to say this, but I feel like I'm missing my big brother, the one I can always count on. You must be thinking I'm crazy or something", Max smiled, it was a sad smile however, "I wish you were here so badly."

By now his eyes were filled with unshed tears, his cheeks were red and his smile had vanished completely. Small sobs could be heard from the boy that was sitting in the chair. It went unnoticed that Ash's hands had curled into fists even when Max went to grab one of the hands for comfort. He probably dismissed it in his emotional state.

Max went to sit on his knees, his hands cupping Ash's. Slowly the hand began to relaxed and the fist uncurled. A blue glow was appearing around Ash's body. "Help!", Max had screamed as soon as he had noticed the glow had appeared, "Help! Anyone!", Max stumbled backwards and climbed clumsily to his feet as fast as he could and ran to the door on top speed, "Lucarioooo!", he shouted at the top of his lungs.

Lucario must have heard one of the earlier calls too, because he came running around the corner only a few seconds later. "What's wrong Max?", Lucario asked quickly. The Pokémon was practically dragged into the room by the small scared boy. Max was only pointing at the bed in the ward, no sound would come from his throat.

The situation was clear to Lucario after seeing Ash's glowing hands. The stupid boy had tried to use his Aura without a guardian present to ground him. It was however that Ash had succeeded that made it so dangerous.

If Aura was used in a uncontrolled manner, Aura could backfire upon the user, which in this case was Ash. This was exactly the reason why there were so few Aura guardians left. When on with the power to become a guardian couldn't find a guardian within a year of coming of age. Most of them would begin to try and control their Aura by themselves. Many impatient young men and women had died this way.

It was out of Lucario's reach however as he wasn't in Ash's mindscape right now and there was no way to contact Ash within a short amount of time. Luckily there was no need to interfere either, because slowly the glow left Ash's body and disappeared.

Tension flowed from the onlookers body's as Ash's body regained its natural color. Lucario ran from the room after muttering, "I must find a way to contact Ash sooner than tomorrow morning!" Max had taken his former seat again, holding Ash's hand he said, "you scared me big brother."

"I did it!", Ash shouted after successfully summoning another orb of Aura. He had done this a couple of times now and it was getting easier every time. It was bugging him however, what else he could do with his Aura. And thus he hoped Lucario would visit him again soon. Because he would be able to explain a lot of things like, why he could hear the voices of his friends, but not quite understand them. Small pieces of sentences, yes, but he had the feeling he had been told much more.

Well, he would have to ask Lucario about that the next time he saw him. Ash went to sit back into his cross-legged position on the ground. The palms of his hands facing each other as if he was trying to grab the very air between his hands. He pushed the Aura through his hands, successfully forming yet another sphere. It had gone a lot easier now that he could easily summon a powerful enough emotion to pull out his Aura.

When he had formed an average sized sphere, he found himself wanting to experiment with it. Pulling his hands further away from the orb, he saw it becoming oval shaped. He tried to shape the orb into something he felt he needed very badly. Four legs were formed, a back rest came into place and to finish it off, a nice flower pattern covered the seat. At once his mindscape didn't seem so empty anymore now that the self-made chair rested in front of him. It had tired him greatly though, he noticed by his ragged breathing. The chair in front of him was quickly forgotten as he fell backwards onto the ground and closed his eyes in exhaustion.

From this moment on the things he made with the help of his Aura only got more complicated Although he couldn't make more than three items after each other without exhausting himself, he soon had something that closely resembled his home in Pallet Town. It amazed him at how many details he had remembered, since he hadn't been there in nearly six months now. Even now he was still adding details.

Building the house had cost him a lot of energy, but constructing the second floor had been really tricky, because it had to be strong enough to hold both him and the furniture. It felt strange, building your own house with energy your own body produces. Even though nor the kitchen nor the bathroom had any value other than being decorative, he felt quite at home. After he had finished the house, he had created a training site for himself. It was too bad however that he hadn't made any progress on controlling his aura in any other way than forming orbs.

It wasn't long however before Lucario came to visit him again. He could hear something running towards his home and by looking out of his window he confirmed it was indeed Lucario. Ash went running down the stairs and ran into the Pokémon halfway into the garden, "well… so how do you like it?", Ash asked obviously about his house. Lucario nodded in approval, "you built this with your Aura right, well, your body showed it in the outside world."

Lucario's mind was divided. He was proud and scared at the same time. The house was great, but building it could have gone horribly wrong. "It was wrong and irresponsible of you, Ash! I would've expected better of you! Building the house could've ended in a disaster!" Ash began to really look guilty by the time Lucario was finished ranting. That's when Lucario's mood changed, "nevertheless your house looks beautiful and I'm proud of you.", Lucario said sternly but with a smile gracing his face, "though I'm still mad at you!"

"You sound like my mother", Ash said mockingly deciding to lift the heavy mood a bit. This however brought Lucario onto another matter, "speaking about mothers, I think I know how I can get you out of your mindscape. Since your Aura acted upon trying to protect you, we must convince you Aura you are safe. This might be the key to bring you out of your coma. So I think you'll have to try even harder at controlling your Aura from now on," Lucario took a dramatic pause here and went into full-teacher mode, "of course you will be training WITH ME!"

"I thought you couldn't train me?", Ash asked maybe a bit too direct, however Ash's blunt question didn't seem to have affected Lucario's mood. "I can't train you to become a Guardian of Aura, I can however help you to control your Aura.

It was sooner said than done, as so Lucario helped train Ash in the ways of Aura the next few days. Together they had created a system that made an Aura sphere shine just as the sun during the day and one that resembled the moon at night. This way Ash would know when Lucario could come to visit again, because he could only come every second day.

Every time that Lucario was in Ash's mindscape, he would give Ash a new assignment of sorts. So that even when Lucario wasn't there to actually train him he still had something to do.

Halfway during a training session they found out why Ash's mindscape was so empty and weird at first. Ash was telling him stories about him traveling with his friends, meeting legendaries and his dream to become the greatest Pokémon master ever. "I think your mindscape is just like your life Ash, You've accomplished many of the goals you have appointed yourself, It is as if you are shaping your own future. Thus your Aura decided to grant you the same possibilities in your mindscape, It thought you should create one yourself and shape it how you want!", Lucario had explained and Ash, hearing that being explained by his teacher, felt proud.

It took him a while to get accustomed to Lucario's harsh training style, but nearing the third week of training, there wasn't much for Ash to learn left. From then on they mostly practiced and tried to perfect everything the trainer had already learned.

It wasn't long however before Lucario had something to admit to Ash. The Pokémon convinced Ash to sit down and so both took a comfortable position on the grass. "Ash, the time has come that I have nothing left to teach you", Ash was surprised, but to say he hadn't expected this day to come, would be lying.

"So you're going to leave?", Ash asked afraid he'd be alone again in his mindscape. Lucario nodded, "At least until I find a way out of this place". Ash's sad face began to show a smile and his voice sounded eager," Well, that's one more reason for me to train and find my way out of here as soon as possible.

Suddenly a voice from behind shocked them. They hadn't even heard someone approaching. The question how someone was even able to come here, didn't even pop up in their minds. Her voice shook them from their surprise," I think I'll be able to help with that!"

* * *

Sorry for the extreme long wait! I had this chapter all written, but I was too lazy to type it. So blame the Tv for being so addictive! Ohhh... by the way.. I soooo passed my exams, I was extremely happy! No worries anymore. The next chapter is already finished on paper, I'll just have to type it! You'll probably see it next week! (Yes I take a very long time to type my chapters, my bad!) The word I feel I use to often was 'however'. However (haha) it seems that it doesn't really bother you! If it does, tell me! Cuz it's really been bothering me! Enough ranting... Any grammar or spelling mistakes, yes they are mine! Haha… so keep your paws of!... no I mean it they are MINE!

Edit (2-6-2011); I was quite amazed by the amount of spelling mistakes in this chapter. I should go hide in a corner now and feel ashamed.


	5. Some sort of foster mother

**Some sort of foster mother…**  
Then there suddenly was a beautiful maybe a bit gothic-like woman behind them. Her hair sloppy but not really a mess. It was just an unorganized bunch of black strands about shoulder length hair. Her face looked aristocratic with her high cheekbones and thin face, though her clothes spoke exactly the opposite. Though royal blue, the dress was torn in several places and was just long enough to cover her buttocks. The dress had a deep neckline, but nothing really showed. The rest of the dress was fairly simple no unnecessary frills or bows. So it had to be her smile that Ash warmed up to.

"Bella is my name, saving helpless men is my fame", she announced, making a small mocking bow, "so when do we start?" She asked cheerfully, but gentle. "Who are you and what are you doing in my mind?", Ash asked somewhat hysterical. Bella however, made no notice of it and smiled as she answered his question, "The name is Bella", she said taking a few steps into Ash's direction, "and what I do, well, I think I told you that already, Sweetie", she said pinching Ash's cheek as one would do to her grandchild.

Ash pushed the hand away, but not too forceful, "well Bella", he said quite sarcastic, "I'm no helpless man thank you very much." If it was even possible Bella began to smile even more, "so you did hear me!" Ash's temper began to rise, but managed not to let it be heard in his voice, "well, helpless or not are you going to help us now?" "Of course I am dearie, You shouldn't doubt me!"

Lucario, whom had stayed on the background during their talk, was now eagerly trying to get answers from Bella, as to how she was going to help Ash out of his mindscape.

"This is quite an interesting mind you have here, haven't seen one like this in decades, not since my last master invited me into his students mind, oh my he was something, he was so handsome, oh wouldn't I have liked to know if..." "ahum", Ash scraped his throat efficiently breaking of her train of thoughts, "what do you mean by former master? What are you?"

"Nu-uh", she said childishly, shaking and pointing her finger in a disapproving manner," we ain't playing twenty questions, so you'll have to figure that out for yourself!"

Ash gave a defeated sigh, but said no more. The three remained quiet while Bella began to inspect Ash's creations into further detail.

"You know, Ash, everything you have relearned in the real world, since the technique is only actually in your head", Bella absently commented, Ash however had heard it quite clearly, "What?", he shouted before addressing Lucario, "you knew this?" Lucario nodded and smiled sourly.

"So all this training was all for nothing?", Ash asked desperately. "Now I wouldn't say that, Sweetie, or rather. I wouldn't say it like that exactly", she said as she danced a few steps towards Ash again, "it's just that you have no muscles in this world, so none of your training would've any effect. When you use your Aura in this world, is not using your muscles it's using your mind. Training like running around has no influence on the outside world. However you did learn the correct way to train yourself, even if it didn't have any effect."

Bella gave him a reassuring smile and a pat on the back, but Ash's mood couldn't be saved anymore. "Well, I guess that means no more sit-ups for you , huh Ash?", Lucario teased the trainer.

The next few days Ash only trained himself in the ways of Aura and Bella had been mainly watching him as he was doing said training. Ash hadn't tried to play what she called twenty questions again, about where Bella came from but nor had he tried to find a way out of his mindscape.

Ash silently watched Bella as she was counting the clouds in the sky. As he sat on his favorite stone he wondered what progress he had made in the last few days. Bella had given him information on the function of one's mindscape and ones mindscape guardian. She had also told him in detail how he would be able to project his intentions onto another living being. Sadly, he wouldn't be able to test that ability in his mindscape.

Even though Bella wouldn't even come close to mentioning why she was here, she slipped some answers when talking to him about normal everyday things. She seemed not to want to reveal much about certain subjects. To make things worse those subjects seemed to be the ones that could be his only hints to figuring out who Bella was and what she was doing in his mindscape.

Bella obviously had underestimated Ash's intelligence and had dismissed some of his weird questions as sickness though being locked in his mindscape for too long, that was mainly the reason why she was so shocked by Ash's next question.

"You, Bella, you're my mindscape guardian, aren't you? You're studying me to see if I've learned enough to return to the real world", Ash said accusingly and totally out of the blue, while still watching the sky and it's ever changing set of white clouds

Both Lucario and Bella were shocked to hear Ash's question, mostly because Lucario hadn't heard most of the conversation that went on in Ash's mindscape because he still had to go back to his body every other night. Bella however was shocked because she hadn't expected Ash to figure it out before next week or so.

"So, do I qualify to go back ma'am", Ash said mockingly at Bella. She was able to smile about Ash's way of getting back at his guardian though and she smiled from ear to ear.

"If 'you' aren't ready my charge", she announced proudly, "then I wonder who 'is' ready." It ate at her heart however, knowing that she wouldn't see him again anytime soon, but she knew it was for the better.

Their parting was emotional even though both felt it wouldn't be good bye forever, nonetheless it was an emotionally heavy parting. "Aura ero vobis", were the last words Bella would say to her charge, for now.

A white glow surrounded Ash's body both in his mindscape and the real world. Ash felt like his veins were filled with liquid fire, while his skin felt like it would peel of from the icy energy that surrounded it. Ash had no other choice than to scream out from the pain. These two feeling together made those few seconds feel like hours of torture. After both feelings had left his body, his skin and muscles were tingly and painful at touch. The whiteness of the room made Ash concentrate on his surroundings.

He was lying in a comfortable bed, tucked safely under the sheets. He didn't have time to inspect the room more closely though as someone had entered it and ran into him like a wild herd of Tauros. "You're back!", the small bundle of flesh and clothes muttered.

"Pika-pika", a small cheerful voice sounded from the other side of the room. A hairy bundle of yellow jumped at him. It chatted at him, voice filled with glee and even though he couldn't understand what was said. He knew that the Pokémon had told him that it was glad Ash was back.

"I'm glad that I'm back too", Ash said, "I would've thought that Bella was only there to get on my nerves if she hadn't helped me out. Honestly that girl is a chatterbox." After Ash had said that a wave of questions followed.

More and more people had gathered in the room and so the doctor had to interfere. When she had finally ushered everyone out of the room using the excuse that Ash needed rest, only the queen remained.

"You look relaxed and calm in the prospect of what has happened the last few weeks", she said taking in her place in one of the chairs next to his bed.

"I guess you'll have to thank Lucario for that as he's been taking up most of that time by training me in the ways of Aura"

Lady Rin smiled, "I'll have to thank him for that indeed, because now the earth has been blessed with one more guardian of Aura."

It hurt him to see her so happy over something he knew could never be. "I'm sorry milady, but that's not true. As my teacher, Lucario, has never completed his training, neither can I", he said disappointment very clear in his voice.

"In the time after that Lucario was locked up in Aaron's staff less and less guardians were found and trained. Because most of the future guardians could never find a teacher. Thus the people of this kingdom called upon the spirit of the last King of Aura to judge the future guardians worthy or unworthy, but our problem wasn't solved.

Each passing decade blessed our lands with less guardians, people became greedy, self-centered and egoistic. Even the bloodlines that used to bring forth great and memorable guardians, could not produce the amount of guardians these lands so badly needed.

There were hardly any guardians who were found worthy by the King. So now the spirit of the last King of Aura resides in the Chamber of Hope, which only opens its doors to the worthy.", thus the queen ended her story. While Ash seemed still dazed with fascination.

"This chamber", Lady Rin nodded for him to continue, "is it in this castle?" The lady smiled before answering, "As this castle has survived many wars, but had to ,at least partly, be rebuild, the chamber instead of residing in the main part of the castle, it is located in the dungeon part. I was planning to take both you and Lucario there the day after tomorrow. Is that alright with you?"

"Thank you milady, that is just fine", he said gratefully and respectfully. On the inside however he was jumping up and down with joy and excitement.

She knocked at the door before exiting the room. Thus alerting the guard to her leaving the chamber. Her footsteps or at least the sound of them, had soon died out and Ash was alone again.

Ash was wondering if the queen had told Lucario about the King of Aura too, it didn't really matter, because if he saw Lucario before they were going to see him, he would obviously be too enthusiastic to keep it to himself.

Now that he thought about it, Lucario might've already known about said King. That said, he might even have met him. Maybe, but Lucario has said that he couldn't become a guardian, would that mean Lucario, his teacher, was rejected by the King of Aura.

Lady Rin had said that the land she ruled had been blessed with less guardians every passing century, that people had become greedy and self-centered.

Though Lucario didn't seem to fit that description at all. In Ash's eyes Lucario seemed dutiful, honorable, not really friendly, but the last few weeks showed him that Lucario could indeed be gentle and playful at times.

It was probably the grudge that Lucario bore against his mentor, Sir Aaron, that made him somewhat bitter to human contact. Ash's thoughts were disturbed as a worried looking Max entered his room. His bed was quickly occupied with yet another body, this time a yellow furry one.

"I'm glad that you're back, Ash!", Max said sounding a bit uncomfortable. Pikachu voiced his agreement by saying it's name playfully. Both Ash and Max had to laugh at this innocent display of glee.

Ma x was watching as Ash went to chase his partner, who had yet again stolen his cap and was doing some sort of victory pose. It was good to see that both Ash and Pikachu were happy to be together again after the horrific happenings of the last few weeks, and a smile was brought upon Max' insecure features.

Ash felt that he was well enough to join the rest at dinner and as such, the dinner table was filled with delicious meals that celebrated the healthy homecoming of Lucario and Ash. Stories were told and the dinner table in the giant hall shone with happiness and joy at the return of peace.

To take his mind of things Ash went to take a walk in the majestic garden of Cameron Castle. The roses were fully in bloom and made an arc that was the entrance to the rest of the overly green garden that shone with a feeling of home.

In the fountain in the middle of some of the bigger areas in the huge green land, was a statue of a Riolu and a Lucario, signifying the bond between Master and student. And as the two Aura Pokémon they were almost divine to the people of Cameron.

Water Pokémon swam in the water that surrounded the stone statue. While walking further into the garden a feeling of agony suddenly tucked at his heart. It took little time to realize that this feeling wasn't his own, which was dazing his senses.

Ash was quickly lost in this feeling of fear and pain. He was no longer able to see sharp, the world was turning fuzzy around him, but before the pain took him into a unconscious state he was able to see the form of a small Pokémon making itself known by stumbling through some of the grove that was surrounding the area.

Ash was able to stay conscious long enough for him to realize that the small Pokémon had to be the one sending him this feeling of unbearable pain, because the Pokémon had scratches and bruises all over his small form.

* * *

Edit (2-6-2011); Another huge amount of spelling mistakes and two chapters combined! ^^


	6. Those who are worthy, die?

**Those who are worthy…. die?**  
Ash woke up to the cry of a scared and pained creature. The small pokémon had hidden itself behind one of the potted plants and was probably scared by Ash waking up. The pokémon gave a screeck that fully woke the trainer up. His eyes wide open looking for something dangerous, the rustling of leafs told him the creature was hiding again.

"I won't harm you", Ash stated honestly, while streching out his hand for the pokémon to take. Ralts gave another sqeek and Ash nodded in respons. The pokémon could probably sense Ash' sincerity, because the wounded creature came walking towards him from behind the plant which had proven to be a good hidding place. When it had taken Ash' hand it looked up into the trainers eyes with acception clearly visible in its eyes.

"Ralts?" , its said questioningly, confusion and doubt were tucking at the trainers heart, while the pokémon stared into Ash' eyes waiting for him to do something.

"I won't harm you", Ash said again, while his right hand went to hover above the little one's head. The small pokémon looked up at him with its face full of scratches yet there was no fear visible on his face.

Forcing his Aura outwards, he began to form an Aura sphere that would be big enough to enclose the pokémon. The pokémon eventhough it was obviously scared now, wasn't moving a muscle and let Ash do his job as if sensing the trainers intention.

As the sphere grew, Ralts' injuries slowly began to heal, the scratches seemed to knit themselves together, the bruises disappeared and slowly the scared look vanished from Ralts' face.

When all injuries had healed, Ash let the sphere disappear and removed his hand from the top of Ralts' head, while Ralts slowly let go of the other one. Before taking off the Ralts looked into Ash' eyes one more and said his name in a thanking manner, before running away as fast as he could.

The feeling of gratefulness lingered with Ash as he saw the Pokémon take off. "You did well", a voice behind the trainer said, yet he seemed untouched by the sudden appearance of his mentor, and answered simply, "I know."

"You seem to know a lot", Lucario said, while he turned around and slowly walked away, a small hand gesture told Ash that he was to follow him. "So I guess you have been told about the chamber?", Ash nodded, "It really is some kind of miracle for me", Lucario stated, his feeling rolling of him in waves, happiness and a sense of duty were the ones that Ash recognized the easiest.

"You have always wanted to be a guardian, and now you have gotten another chance", Ash said," I guess this really is your best case scenario after what happened at the Tree of Beginning" Lucario smiled at Ash way to put things. Together they walked back to the castle, unknown to them that they were being followed.

It was often that Ash wondered if Lucario would ever be able to leave Aaron's betrayal in the past, for every time Ash looked into his eyes, he saw a glint of hurt.

It didn't take long for both master and student to reach the castle, nor their rooms, which Ash was grateful to have instead of sleeping in the overly white nursing room. Ash's nervousness was the main reason that he couldn't fall asleep, that and his worry for not being accepted.

Ash lay looking at the ceiling, while his Pikachu snored loudly at his side. Deciding there was no reason for him to stay in bed if he couldn't sleep anyway, he dressed himself and quietly sneaked out of the room.

When he had made sure no one had followed him, he was able to walk around more comfortably. He was quickly lost in the maze that were the hallways and he wasn't sure if he would be able to find the way back to his room alone. That, he decided , would be a matter for later, because then he had found an interesting looking room.

In the door engraved were some strange runes, that he could not decipher. The rest of the door was decorated with engraved flowers and fruits. When he entered the room, he discovered it was some sort of library, ceiling-high bookshelves were crammed with books and those that weren't that high had books on top of them. The books looked worn from being read by many people.

Suddenly the door closed, it shook him violently out of his thoughts and made him stumble backwards a few steps. He was fully focused on the area near the door, but could find nothing there that could have forcefully closed the door so suddenly. More cautious now he began to inspect the rest of the room.

A table and chair stood in the middle of the chamber. A small but cozy fireplace was probably there to give the room a homey atmosphere. It was however a painting on the wall that had caught Ash' attention.

A young man, maybe in his early twenties was portrayed on it, holding the same staff that sir Aaron did, yet the two paintings were surprisingly different. The young man was in a boyish position, head somewhat lowered an eyes were focused on the floor. His shoulders were lowered as if a massive weight was upon them. Why anyone would want to picture such a handsome boy this was, was beyond him.

Then he noticed a strange symbol hovering above the boy on the painting. It was like it was supposed to be some kind of crown. The boy light brown shoulder-length hair covered most of his face. Though if one looked closely enough, one could see two large eyes void of any emotion between the strands of hair.

The symbol above the seemingly emotionless boy however, was unknown to Ash. It consisted of something that looked like a fish with an overgrown head in the three corners were three gems, one green and two were blue. The symbol, though it had no meaning to Ash, had probably great significance to the painter as it was painted as something alike to a crown. Too bad for Ash, nowhere on the painting could there be found a name of the boy nor the painter.

As Ash was getting tired, he went to go to bed, but in his attempt to walk out of the room, he stumbled against the chair, which made a deafening sound in the quiet night. Not long after, he heard a voice in the hallway, the person whom the voice belonged to was obviously searching for someone.

In his fright to be found out, he crawled into a corner in the room and put out the lights, which he had turned on earlier on. But before he could fully crawl into the corner he was grabbed by something occupying the same corner. The next second he was forcefully teleported out of that corner.

Ash landed somewhat hard on the floor of his own room and had to keep himself from groaning out from the pain in his bottom. "Kirlia", it sounded from behind him. He turned around only to come face to face with an overly happy psychic Pokémon, but behind that joyous attitude he could still see a glint of fear.

The moment ash had somewhat recovered from his shock, he tried to stand up only to notice that the Pokémon flinched at his movements. Ash put out his hand for the Pokémon to take. The Pokémon obviously decided that Ash was no threat to him and slowly began to close the distance between them. "Don't worry, I won't harm you", Ash said when the Kirlia grasped his hand. The exact moment the contact was made, it was as if he had two sets of feelings, one his own, the others were most likely Kirlia's.

Suddenly images began to flash in front of his eyes. Some he recognized, but most were entirely foreign. Visions of a family of psychics, of comfort, of love. Memories of pain, of abuse, of loneliness. Sounds of joy and a scream for help, yet nothing came.

It stopped abruptly and Ash was shaken, when he had suddenly been shoved back to reality. The Pokémon's feelings and memories had been so overwhelming that he needed some time to pull himself together. The Kirlia, who had teleported him into his room, was looking at Ash with interest yet again.

"I guess I have to thank you for saving me", Ash said, relieving them both of the silence that hung in the room. The psychic gave a smile showing it was happy to have done so. "But why did you save me?", Ash' voice sounded warm in the unforgiving cold that hung in the room.

A vision reached his eyes or rather his Aura. The Pokémon who could not understand the workings of the human tongue responded by giving the trainer a response in the form of sight. The scene that was played in front of the boy's eyes was one in which none other than he played a key part in. It was a scene of earlier that same day. A Ralts being healed by an Aura user in the green garden of Cameron Castle.

In an instant he was swayed back to reality. His own room dad come into view again and on the other side of the room sat a Pokémon wearing an enormous smile. "I guess we're even then?", Ash said forming a smile of his own," so you evolved" The trainer stated, while walking to the closet. He grabbed a blanket and placed it on the nearly empty bed, next to his own. The only thing lying on that bed, was a still sleeping Pikachu.

He placed the blanket next to his best buddy and invited the Kirlia to sleep there. "I think you do deserve some rest", Ash said, giving the Pokémon one last rub over his head, before stepping into his own bed, thinking about what tomorrow would bring. He hoped that not only Kirlia would finally get what he deserved.

The sun had not even been up, when he was zapped out of bed by his partner. Both of them were nervous about what this day had to bring, but before they went to have breakfast he had invited his new friend to tag along. Breakfast was a tangle of talks about hope and reality. Yet there was someone who seemed to have lost his appetite when someone else raised the matter of the chamber.

The normally reserved Pokémon was now one pack of nervousness. Ash decided to say nothing of it. Nervousness alone had never killed someone before, right? Besides it would all end up right anyway, at least that is what he thought.

By midday the company had gathered in front of the chamber of the King of Aura. Again nervousness made the room tense and yet joy was a feeling that could be felt clearly too. "I think, it's about time for you to be accepted by your destiny", Lady Rin said,, motioning for Lucario to walk towards the door.

Lucario was hesitant however to walk towards the door that would seal a part of his fate. This huge oak door on which a crest resided, unknown to everyone but Ash and Lady Rin. It was the crest that had been symbolized as a crown to the young man on the painting.

In the meanwhile everyone had been moved a few steps back under instructions of the Queen. While Lucario was still standing only a few meters away from the huge oak doors, unmovable as stone. Ash was still waiting for his chance with the door and was getting impatient, when nothing had happened still. The rest of the company seemed impressed by the doors and yearned to take in every detail of its magnificent structure.

Two huge pillars were situated next to the King's door, one on either side. They were a beautiful off-white and their structure looked a lot like baroque. Stone flowers were probably handcrafted and decorated the border between ceiling and wall.

Normally Ash would've been astounded by their beauty yet now, he was too nervous to care. The center of the doors glowed golden, suddenly everyone's attention was back on the door. Slowly the doors opened, the sudden movement of the door made Ash lose control of his Aura and all flowed out of him, leaving him momentarily powerless.

When the doors had opened completely all were trying to look into the room. Yet doing so was made impossible by the golden glow that shone from within. Lucario walked emotionlessly into the room, his mind seemed absent. Behind him the doors began to close again, closing of the sight of his friends.

Minute became hour, hour became day, yet Lucario still had to come out of the chamber. They had taken turns in guarding the room. It was Brock's turn, when suddenly the doors where smashed open and Lucario's seemingly lifeless body was thrown outside. Immediately Brock sprang into action and carried the wounded yet alive creature to the hospital wing.

It was there that Ash jumped to conclusions upon seeing the lifeless body of his master. As fast as he could he ran back to the room and began banging on the doors. Lost in his emotions, tears began running over his cheeks, he sank to his knees.

* * *

Edit (2-6-2011); Combined three chapters this time, there were less grammar mistakes too! I'm getting better! XD


	7. The grieving King

**The grieving King**  
"Give him back", Ash whispered lifelessly. His voice hoarse from all the screaming. His face still somewhat wet with the tears he spilled for his fallen mentor and his heart broken by the loss. His hands lay lifeless in his lap and his fast was downcast, his eyes closed. He had been seated like this for a few hours now, his mind stuck in the past.

_…suddenly the doors where smashed open and Lucario's seemingly lifeless body was thrown outside. Immediately Brock sprang into action and carried the wounded yet alive creature to the hospital wing._

_It was there that Ash jumped to conclusions upon seeing the lifeless body of his master. As fast as he could he ran back to the room and began banging on the doors. Lost in his emotions, tears began running over his cheeks, he sank to his knees._

_The rest of the crew left, running after Brock who was carrying the body to the hospital wing, except for Pikachu who tried to console his master. The small Pokémon tried it's hardest to get his master's attention, but failed none the less. His master was completely entranced by what the being inside the room had done to Lucario._

_Slowly but surely Ash's aura returned to him. There was a misty cloud forming around Ash now. The cloud being Ash's aura and Ash being out of control in his loss, cause the cloud to go haywire. Thunder-like strikes echoing from within the cloud that was steadily growing bigger. Some sort of force field forced Pikachu further away from his crying master._

_Ash climbed to his feet and swayed a little once he stood. His arms hung next to his body. Balls of energy forming around the hands. The fog became thicker and soon Pikachu was unable to see her trainer, while he was still being pushed further backwards._

_A strong wind picked up around Ash, Aura flared around him, while he took two large steps towards the great door. "Give him back", Ash stated fiercely, but somehow managed to sound just calm and strong. "You can't take him", Ash said, "Give him back or I'll make you". He brought his hands up, looking ready to punch his way through the door," and that is a promise!"_

_His Aura flared even more and he began punching, hitting, kicking, slamming, beating the door, trying to get it to at least budge under the strain, but the door would give even an inch. After a couple of minutes of beating the door without making any progress whatsoever, he fell to his knees once again. His hope lost again. His head touched the cold door._

_Suddenly the doors glowed golden, the same eerie glow that had shown from within the chamber not an hour ago. While the air still vibrated around the broken trainer. Pikachu had long since ran away to get help for his trainer. A strange sound could be heard in the hallway now, it sounded like a violin which hadn't been accorded in a while. It sounded eerie and it made the hairs on Ash's neck stand up. In an instant the sound was gone and Ash's vision went black._

"Give him back", Ash muttered again, still half- unconscious. The first thing he noticed when he woke up was the fact that he was no longer lying on the cold stone floor, or had his head resting against the hard wooden doors. No, now he was lying in a comfortable, though a bit too warm, bed, while his head rested upon a feather pillow. His throat ached from the amount of screaming from before and his hands hurt from the pounding upon the unforgiving wooden doors.

His stomach made the noise, he was quite used to by now, it meant to say, "Ash you had better eat something before you faint!..". He didn't usually argue with his stomach, but now he was more concerned with the fact that there was nobody in the room except for a guy in strange old-fashioned clothing. If the guy hadn't looked so strong and if he hadn't felt so weak, he was sure he would've laughed at the guys clothing style.

The boy wasn't muscular though. No, anything but. He looked strong though. Even though his body looked frail and thin and somewhat feminine The way his eyes seemed to shine with strength, made Ash think twice about mocking him about his clothes.

The brown shoulder length hair framed his face perfectly. His cheekbones were his and accentuated, his eye cases roofed by gorgeously shaped eyebrows and filled with the most stunning brown eyes. It was that Ash didn't swing that way, yet, or he would have been drooling for sure.

The boy, in his mid-twenties, stood up from the chair upon which he was seated. With his delicate hands he straightened his green suit before he walked towards Ash in long elegant strides. To Ash it looked as if the guy had practically walked through a time portal connected to the Victorian age, he was suddenly very scared. 'What if he had ended up in the Victorian age instead?'

"No need to fear, my guardian", the man, said, his voice was deep and warm and sounded as archaic and yet stoic as Lucario's, "you have merely passed into my chamber."

"_Your _chamber?", Ash replied, while taking in his surroundings. The chamber wasn't huge, but there was enough space to hold both a seating and a dining area. The furniture was made of a dark wood and most decorations were made of gold, or at least something that looked gold. The crownpiece was the giant chandelier that hung from the high ceiling. It had at least fifty lamp buds. They were all blue colored and shone brightly and gave the chamber a blue glow.

"Yes, my chamber", the man confirmed, "I had hoped you would be as informed as the former person that entered, your master, if I am right."  
Something inside Ash' head clicked. Was this the person, who caused Lucario to be… gone. Rage welled up inside of Ash, but before he could scream bloody murder, the man held up his hand, signaling for him to keep quiet and let him explain.

"Before we are to discuss business..", Ash snorted at that. Pfff… Business, he would make sure this man meant business when Ash would dish out some punches. The man continued as if he hadn't heard Ash' snort.

"… I want you to know that your master is fine. He is merely unconscious. It would do him no good to be aware of the pain the change brings along." Relief washed over Ash as he heard that, but people had lied to him before so he would believe it when he saw it.

"Now that we have cleaned up the un-pleasantries, let's move on.", the man motioned for Ash to sit down on one of the fauteuil and went to sit on one himself.

"I know your name, I have for some time now, but I have yet to give you mine. My name is Leoice, my guardian. I am the one who will oversee your rite of passage to become a real guardian of Aura. I am also the one you call the King of Aura. I choose the worthy and discard those who are not… and finally I have been blessed once more with the rites of passage of two guardians in one decade no less."

"I'm not your guardian, I'm Aura's guardian", Ash said stubbornly, while cocking his head away from the man. A small smile now graced the man's face. His eyes sparkled with joy and he raised his hand to Ash's face and softly captured his cheek. He coached the head back to face him.

"Yet, still you are my guardian for I was chosen by Aura to be her King, so thus you are obliged to obey me as you would her", Ash slapped the hand on his cheek away as if it stung, but it did nothing to wipe the grin of Leoice face as he did so.

"You are nothing but a narcissist bastard, who's power has risen to his head. You are no king! Look what happened to your people under _your_rule!"

"Oh Ash….. Without my guardians to execute my orders, I am nothing", Leoice said while looking offended, "You can hardly blame me for the world's growing greed." Ash was silent for a while and let Leoice words sink in.

"I was once a guardian too you know", Leoice continued , " I saw with my own eyes what greed and jealousy did to my friends and family. As I come from a proud family which has produced many great and loyal guardians, it was sad to see this old line wither and die."

"How old are you exactly? And why haven't I heard of you from the Queen, surely she visits you sometimes?", Ash thought out loud. He was very sure this guy looked no older than thirty and that was if you were being pessimistic.

"I'm older than I look by far, my guardian", the man claimed cryptically, "but it gets lonely in here quick, it is after all only the worthy guardians that are allowed to visit me and there haven't been a lot of those in the last century." Leoice's eyes shone with loneliness and age beyond his looks, but there was something else in there too… hope?

Ash suddenly felt guilty for calling the man a narcissist, while all be did was enjoying human contact whenever he could. Sure it had made Ash feel uncomfortable, but had it really been meant to be that. Was there no possible way to free this man of this chamber, or maybe it was the other way around. To free this poor chamber from the young boy turned King.

" You haven't set foot outside this chamber since you became _King_?", Ash asked, "How come none of the guardians have taken you outside?" Leoice eyes shone brightly at that statement, surely he had misheard the underlying proposition.

"They never cared to find out", Leoice said , "I am but an icon to them, only there to judge them, but not _human_enough for them to befriend. It is not that strange however, for that is what I am portrayed as. Surely you have seen one of my portraits hanging around. I look horrible in each of them. They made me look weak and vulnerable, nothing like the person they wanted me to be. Of course that had its reasons. At first I refused to become King, I played my role while holding a grudge. That is why they portrayed me as weak, they believed I should never have been chosen at all."

Leoice looked away as he thought about the people that had betrayed his trust. He thought he would have been able to build on his family and friends, to trust them with whatever went on in his mind, but he was wrong and he had paid for it.

"You have been locked in here for who knows how long and you have never asked for anyone to take you outside?", Ash asked surprised, "I understand your mistrust of your friends and family, but surely you must have known there would be people who would take you out?"

Anger swelled up inside of Leoice, surely the boy knew what he was offering. "You don't know what you are talking about, _boy_!", Leoice shouted, but calmed down after seeing the shocked and hurt face that Ash showed him ,"Let it go, Ash. Please just let me do the ritual and go help my kingdom."

* * *

I had a genius idea about where I want to take the story from here on, I only hope I will be able to write it. If you want to know what Bella and Leoice look like, soon I'll be putting up some drawings of them on my DeviantArt (hopefully), but for now you should think of Leoice as Lelouch Lamperouge with Kaname Kuran's hair style XD!..


	8. A ceremonial initiation

**A ceremonial initiation**  
Ash didn't know where the sudden change in behavior from Leoice came from, but he sure as hell didn't like it. "Why?", Ash asked, "Just a minute ago you were practically begging for someone to free you from this chamber and now you just want me to forget about it?" Leoice quickly turned his back on Ash trying to hide his emotions that would surely show in his eyes.

"Freeing me from this room is not as simple as walking me through that door", Leoice began, "you are forgetting what this room represents. You are forgetting I have a role to fulfill in here, one that can't be delayed. Taking me from this room will require more than a functioning pair of legs and a hand to lead me to the door." Leoice made it sound final, but Ash would have none of it.

"So you are afraid that there is no one else to fulfill the role of _King_?", Ash said mockingly, "You sure aren't the first _King_, right? Then I will find another to replace you!" Ash crossed his arms over his chest and made it sound and look final. A small smile appeared on Leoice's face again.

"Thank you, but it won't be easy", Leoice said, "But we should proceed with the more pressing matters first. Both you and your master's initiation." Leoice raise his hand and the gesture was followed by a staff materializing in his outstretched hand.

It was a tall staff. It was about 5'10'' tall and was about as tall as Leoice. There was the most magnificent gem in the center on the top of the staff. If was a perfectly round sapphire, which shone most beautifully in the light of the room.

A huge swirl covered the top of the staff and curled towards the wooden handle. The curls disappeared towards the middle of the handle, where another ring of decoration was placed as the one directly under the sapphire. The handle was almost completely black except for the decorations, which were in blue. The swirl on top of the handle was a stunning silver color, deflecting the light perfectly.

With his staff in hand, Leoice looked more comfortable. He stood more straight and his head was tilted upward instead of downward. "That feels better", Leoice commented, shaking Ash out of his thoughts. Slowly Leoice walked towards Ash and raised his unoccupied hand towards Ash' face.

"Wait, what are you going to do?", Ash said worriedly, while taking a step backwards. Leoice smiled again and while he spoke, he took a step forward again. "I am sending you into a deep sleep for 12 hours to prepare you for the ritual, after that we can initiate you."

"Ok, I understand", Ash said, allowing Leoice to touch him, "so all you did to Lucario wa….." While Ash was talking Leoice had closed his eyes in concentration and placed his delicate fingers on Ash' temple. The gem's centre flared once and Ash' muscles relaxed and he fell forwards into Leoice's outstretched arms.

"Rest my guardian", Leoice said, while clearing the boys face of wayward hairs. He banished his staff and carefully picked up Ash. The boy was even lighter than he looked, no matter how much he seemed to eat. "You will rest now and after that I will take care of you."

The huge doors of the chamber opened once again and he made long strides towards the opening. He knew the time was not yet right to pass through it so he sat down on his knees and placed the boy outside the chamber. Kissing the boy's forehead he stood up and walked back into the room again. Already missing the boy who had given him hope.

There had been one Pokémon there to witness his trainer being placed on the ground in front of the doors. It was a yellow and hyperactive Pokémon, who was currently running top-speed towards the hospital wing. It had witnessed the strange man, place his master there and was trying his best to get help.

The queen would surely know what to do, at least that is what it had concluded. So, the queen and one of her guards raced to get Ash to the hospital wing and deduce what had happened to both Ash and Lucario, who was still in some sort of coma too.

There was nothing wrong with either of them, as far as the machines could see they were just in a deep sleep. Nothing any of them tried could wake them up. Not even the smell of food could stir Ash from his sleep, while normally only that and a Gym battle were the things for which you could wake the teen.

Max had been by his _brother's _side almost all the time and as such he had fallen asleep holding the hand of said boy. May and Brock had visited Ash and Lucario frequently and had provided food for Max and themselves. The Queen had been in the library for most of the time, she had tried to look for a register that would describe why this was happening to the guardians to be.

It was just past midnight, when a set of curious eyes behold the three sleeping forms in the infirmary. The Pokémon to which they belonged just around the corner and shaking with anticipation. Slowly the Pokémon walked around the room, when it thought it was safe.

The Kirlia was trying it's best to remain silent and with the small tentacle-like feet, that wasn't a hard feat. It slowly danced its way into the room and jumped on Ash's bed. The Pokémon noted that there was still some space on Ash' pillow and thus deemed it right to sleep there, ready to give its protecting to the trainer when it was needed.

When Ash' awoke, max was already gone. Yes, he knew Max had slept there. He had felt the warmth of the boy on his legs, because the boy had slept hanging on the bed, while still in his chair. He was shocked, however, to find the Kirlia on his pillow, smiling happily at him.

"Good afternoon, Ash", Lucario greeted his student. Ash turned around to face the master he had thought dead yesterday. He kicked the blankets off and caught Lucario in a bone crushing hug. After the initial shock, Lucario returned the hug.

"Good afternoon to you too!", Ash said happily, "has he… well you know.." Ash tried to ask if he was treated ok by Leoice and if he had explained it well, but it seemed that the stress of _losing_his master was still heavy on him.

"If you are meaning to ask, whether the Lord has explained the preparations for the ritual, then yes. I was aware that I was going to go to sleep.", Lucario said, untangling himself from Ash' arms, "I was unaware however that it would cause you such distress."

"Of course it would", Ash said outraged, "you are my friend! Of course I would be…. distressed!" Even though the Pokémon was normally stoic, even he had to smile at that notion. Their emotional moment was forcefully interrupted by May who practically screamed her lungs out.

"CUTEEEEEE!", She shouted loudly, while pointing at the Kirlia on Ash' bed. The Kirlia, who was now wide awake shied away from the loud noise and crammed itself under the pillow. Meanwhile Max had followed his sister into the room.

Max was carrying a plate of food, probably meant for Ash. He placed it down on the side table before turning to his sister again. She was harassing the poor Pokémon by now and was trying to make it come from under the pillow.

"She's so cute!", May said again, while Ash went to help the Pokémon out. He picked the Pokémon up in his arms and took a step away from May, just to be sure, since the Pokémon was normally shy and all.

"It's a he", Max said forcefully, while looking at Ash, "I don't think he appreciates being called a girl." Max went to sit on the bed, while his sister sent him a death glare. The Pokémon didn't look happy indeed at being called female and sneered at May.

"I'm sure _he _understands!", May said angrily towards Max and went to pet the Pokémon's head. Ash allowed her to pet the Pokémon once, before he put said Pokémon down and let it flee under the bed.

"I brought you something to eat", Max said while showing Ash the plate with fruit. Ash looked at him questionably. "Fruit?", Ash said and Max shot him a look that said he better eat it all. "It's good for you, I believe", Lucario said.

"I'm sure he has some control over his hunger, that he will be able to refrain from eating just a while longer", said a voice from the doorway. "My Lord", Lucario said while kneeling. Turning around Ash came face to face with Leoice again and shot him a questionable look.

"I am only able to leave my chamber because I am to witness your initiation", Leoice said, "my situation has not changed, however I believe I may have found a solution, but that is a story for another time. Now we have a ritual to perform, I believe and I will not have you ruin the purification part of the preparations just because you were hungry."

"You didn't mention that I couldn't eat!", Ash said, "Am I to die before I become a Guardian?" Leoice smiled lightly, but sounded somewhat wounded when he answered, "I would not have you die, my guardian, not if I can help it."

"Thanks, but can we hurry a bit", Ash said dismissively, " 'cause I sure am hungry!" Everyone else in the room just sighed at Ash' stomach talking, while Leoice motioned for them to leave the room. "I have already informed the Queen and she has already begun to set up the ritual in the ballroom. If you would follow me, we can start soon."

Leoice led them all towards the great ballroom and meanwhile both Lucario and Ash were getting more tense by the minute. The Kirlia that had been hiding under the bed had silently followed the crew to the ballroom and had taken seat on the balcony next to Ash' trusted partner.

In the middle of the ballroom the Queen was setting up glasses and vials, chalices and a pair of scales. She was busy measuring the ingredients before putting them in the silver chalices, three of them.

"It is hardly appropriate for a lady of your stature to execute this kind of work", Leoice said charmingly, while taking the green vial out of her hands and placing it upon the table. She wasn't easily charmed however and continued her work.

"Nor is it appropriate for a man of _your _stature to be working like this, my Lord", she said with a smile, "But let us compromise and work together." And so Leoice and the Queen prepared the ritual together.

The Queen drew lines on the floor, while Leoice wrote words in some archaic language along them. Both used the contents of the third chalice to draw them. Soon enough the floor was decorated in an ancient writing and a large circle by which all was contained.

Leoice had the Queen move everyone but Lucario and Ash towards the stage. While she seated herself in her throne, the rest of them sat down on the chairs that were provided by the guards earlier. Leoice himself had summoned his staff again. The gem seemed to glow even brighter than the last time Ash had seen it and Leoice's eyes seemed to glow with it, now everything was ready.

* * *

Hi everyone, some of you might've noticed I have edited a large portion of my story. I hope I have done it well, but if there is something that is bugging you, you can always tell me.  
I hope you guys like Leoice's character a bit, because he is probably staying! XD I hope you enjoy my story so far and please review because they keep me going.  
Ohh... by the way. I like to draw too and since I kinda want to show you what Leoice looks like I tried (being the keyword here) to draw him. I have a pic on my deviantart.

http:/ misskioshi .deviantart .com/ gallery/ ?catpath=scraps#/ d3i6x8a (just remove the spaces)


	9. The truth, the whole truth and nothing

**The truth, the whole truth and nothing but…  
**Leoice took his place inside the circle and motioned for Ash and Lucario to enter. The hall had become silent except for the sound of the footsteps of the soon-to-become guardians. The light shimmered softly making the room feel soft and warm. Yet the eyes of the King were cold and unforgiving as he made his next request.

"The ritual requires you to remove all articles of clothing on your person", Leoice said, eyes cold as steel, while his voice betrayed a bit of amusement. Ash's eyes had become unbelievably wide all of a sudden and he looked questionably towards the Queen, even though he knew she had no say in the matter.

"This is your idea of a sick joke, isn't it?", Ash asked, his voice showing how insulted he was. It was the way Leoice looked at him that enraged him beyond caring. Movement beside him shook him out of his daze and when he looked beside him he saw Lucario removing his clothes with care, before folding them and piling them up.

Leoice however was only looking at Ash, barely blinking he stared at the young trainer. Slowly the boy was undressing himself. Taking extreme measures to take as long as possible without it looking too obvious. Unlike normal he took his time to actually fold his clothes and neatly pilled them up before placing the pile next to Lucario's significantly smaller one.

Leoice's eyes were still drawn to the trainer. The boy was well toned and had some teenage muscle on him. He wasn't overly muscled, but one could say he worked-out once in a while. However, the part Leoice eyes kept being pulled to was his face. The cute blush that spread over his face fitted him perfectly.

To Ash Leoice's face was unreadable. The man just kept staring at him, ogling him in this intimate way it sent shivers up Ash' spine. He had to suppress the urge to hastily put his clothing on again. Ash felt stupid standing there naked and being ogled at by an ancient king. This was probably Aura's way of telling him he was royally screwed.

"The reason why you are both naked, is that there must be no lies or deceit between you and Aura", Leoice stated, while walking towards the table with the chalices on it, "If you are to be Aura's guardians you must be truthful to her at all times, you will give body, mind and soul to protect her and the people of her lands, she will know everything about you ."

Suddenly, the fact that he was naked didn't feel so intimate to Ash anymore. The way Leoice said he would keep no secrets from Aura felt threatening and awkward. He had always kept small pieces of information from everyone. It was always for their own good of course.

Leoice had grabbed onto the two chalices that had remained on the table after the Queen was done preparing the ritual. The silver of the chalices gleamed in the light of the room while Leoice moved towards Lucario and Ash.

While he stayed out of the circle he handed the cups to both of the initiates. Who looked somewhat put off by the sight of the contents of the chalice. "What kind of concoction are you trying to poison us with, _my Lord_?", Ash said, the last part a bit too sarcastic. 'He already beginning to sound like Leoice', Ash thought , "he was beginning to use words he would never have before.'

"I am not poisoning you, my guardian", Leoice said smiling, "I am merely drugging you." The way Leoice said it made it sound as if it was a normal thing for him to drug people. A gasp could be heard from the audience Ash had almost forgotten was there.

The tense silence that hung in the air was only intensified by the stalemate of looks created by Ash and Leoice. Ash dared Leoice to make him drink it, while Leoice dared Ash to disobey him. Finally it was Leoice who gave in.

"Ok fine", Leoice said, "then I'll at least say what is in it." The smile that graced the king's face betrayed some of the enthusiasm he had for telling Ash precisely what was in the chalice. "Legend says it is a truth serum, but that is mainly gossip. Personally, I think it's just a minor sedative to get you talking. The Damianaroot and nutmeg will surely loosen your tongue."

Even though Ash looked even less prepared to drink the substance., he slowly brought the chalice to his lips while Lucario mimicked his actions. The smell that now overtook his senses was enough to make him puke, but the taste actually activate his retching reflect. He had to force the liquid, if it could be called that, down his throat and was extremely pleased when it was finally over.

"While the two of you are recuperating from that awful draught, I'll explain the rest to you", Leoice took the chalices from the two sickly looking initiates and placed them back on the table. While most of the audience was either looking green themselves some of them seemed to have fun seeing Ash suffer the horrible taste, his loyal companion Pikachu was one of those that enjoyed seeing Ash's stomach upset for once and was caught up in a laughing fit.

"The circle you are currently standing in is called _The Web of Lies_", Leoice said while walking around the circle, "If you lie while within it, Aura will punish you." The last was said as if it was the most common thing in the world, being punished by some energy that wasn't even conscious. Nonetheless the threat came through.

"Now since the master leads, which will make the student follow, I will start with Lucario", somehow this statement made Ash feel less tense though he felt a bit sorry for Lucario. Leoice looked Lucario straight in the eyes and grabbed onto his staff tightly.

"Repeat after me Lucario and remember that if you are dishonest", Leoice let the sentence hang for a few moments, "I will know." He shifted his weight once more before he finally began. "I, Lucario apprentice of Sir Aaron,"

Lucario repeated the part, but felt something sting in his chest at the mention of his master's name, but Leoice paid it no notice and continued, "do solemnly, sincerely and truly affirm and declare that, on becoming a Guardian of Aura," The audience could hear a pin drop everyone was holding their breaths, either out of respect or out of fear, because the look of true devotion in Lucario's eyes, told them he would harm them if they ruined this for him.

" I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Highness King of Aura, his predecessors and successors, according to the will of Aura." After Lucario had also repeated the last part, Leoice diverted his eyes and attention towards Ash, who had been waiting patiently for his turn.

"I, Ash Ketchum apprentice of Lucario," while Leoice's words seemed to flow of his tongue with grace Ash seemed to have trouble pronouncing the words due to the tension he was under. He managed to get his nerves under control however and Leoice continued.

"do solemnly, sincerely and truly affirm and declare that, on becoming a Guardian of Aura," It seems Ash was even more nervous than Lucario, for he was struggling to get his tongue and mouth to cooperate with his wishes.

" I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Highness King of Aura, his predecessors and successors, according to the will of Aura." Finally both had taken the oath and some of the tension than hung in the room had dropped. Waiting for Leoice's next command, they stood silently.

The _Web _suddenly began to glow blue, the light coming from the runes became brighter and brighter until all they could see was a bluish white color. Even beyond their eyelids they were confronted with what had sprung from the formation of those runes.

Slowly the light began to dim again, until the runes too disappeared into the floor, gone just like the light. "Aura has accepted your vows", Leoice said dramatically, while motioning for Lucario to sit down on one knee. With his staff still in hand he walked up to Lucario and raised his staff high into the air.

"By the power of the King, I hereby grant you the title of Sir Luario, Guardian and Master of Aura", Leoice said, while laying his staff down on Lucario's left shoulder , "I also grant you the title of Knight of Justice and the responsibility that comes with it." Lucario's eyes gleamed as he looked up at his King. "I accept my responsibilities, your Highness."

"Then rise, Sir Lucario", Leoice said in acceptance before turning to Ash. Raising his staff high before, just as with Lucario, laying it down upon Ash's shoulder. "By the power of the King, I hereby grant you the title of Sir Ash Ketchum, Guardian of Aura", Leoice's smile became wide and continued, "I also wish for you to make a vow to keep the promise you made to me earlier."

While the audience was confused by the words Leoice had spoken to Ash, Ash understood perfectly which promise they were about. He had no intention of breaking said promise either, but he understood that Leoice wouldn't trust his word alone and placed his right hand over his hand and stayed kneeled. "I, now Sir Ash Ketchum, do honestly and sincerely swear that I give my best effort to provide Leoice, the King of Aura, with a successor fit to take his role."

At the end of the vow both Ash and Leoice were smiling brightly. "Then rise, Sir Ash Ketchum, my guardian", Leoice said proudly, motioning for Ash to stand. But Ash' blush had returned full force and looked at Leoice impatiently. "I can…. I can put my clothes back on now then?", he asked nervously. Leoice walked back to Ash' pile and picked it up before walking back to Ash.

"While I would like to enjoy this view for a bit longer it is perhaps better to keep it to myself", Leoice said playfully at Ash' confused look he continued , "so yes, you may put your clothes back on." In his hurry of putting back on his clothing he almost put his shirt on the wrong way and had his socks inside-out, but soon Ash was presentable again. His blush slowly fading as his more daring attitude rose to the surface again.

"I think you have had your fun by now, right?", Ash said daringly while Max, May and the rest of the audience came to the center of the room to congratulate them on their title. Max was overly happy to see both Ash and Lucario in good health and mood and went straight for Ash in a full sprint.

A surprise hug from Max shook Ash from his taunting with Leoice and had him focus on his _brother_. Thanking him for his congratulations he walked towards his trusted partner Pikachu, who had now taken his usual spot on Ash' shoulder.

A now very jealous Kirlia wormed its way into Ash' arms. The Queen had given the order to have the cooks start a banquet. Soon all of them would be able to enjoy a tasty meal and recuperate from recent events.

There was one person however, who took the sidelines in all of this and exited the hall quietly by himself. Because now that the ritual was over, he would be confined to his chamber once again. His only hope to escape it once again, rested in the hands of the boy who had already earned the King's respect.

By now Leoice could only hope that the promise Ash had made to him would be fulfilled soon. Thus he be able to enjoy life outside of confinement once again.

* * *

Hi all readers! I had a problem writing this chapter, since I had honestly no idea what kind of ritual I wanted. I finally managed to write it. Hope you guys noticed the Shounen-ai / Slash references and aren't too shocked to read any further. I promise NO REAL SLASH for at least 10 chapters!  
I'm just trying some things out.  
Enjoy it!


	10. Unblemished gratitude

Unblemished gratitude

The banquet had tasted wonderful and each of them now had a filled stomach. While most of them had gone off to bed, Ash was still eating. Lucario, as excited as he was, had been quiet during almost the whole meal. And while none of the others had noticed, he seemed to have a lot on his mind.

After even Ash had had enough to eat the banquet was over. Ash bid the Queen, Lucario and his Pokémon goodnight and headed off to bed. Leaving Kirlia and Pikachu to play a little while longer. Making his way towards the bedroom he currently occupied, thoughts clouded his mind.

He had promised to grant Leoice his freedom and by now he had come up with some kind of plan. That plan however relied greatly upon the choice of someone else. It was practically impossible to find a new guardian and train him, since there were hardly any guardians left. But for him to take Leoice's place would solve nothing as he had promised to show Leoice the world.

There was one other option however and while that seemed the best option it would require a great deal of influencing. Unable to keep his plans to himself anymore he turned 180 degrees and walked towards the chamber Leoice was, once again, locked inside of.

The age-old King, though you wouldn't say that when you looked at him, hadn't been able to keep his mind of the promise. It was awkward for him to feel trust in someone again. He had been alone for too long to still be used to such trivialities.

He was shook out of his thoughts when someone began pounding on his door, literally. Ash's fists repeatedly made contact with the dark strong wood of said door, untill Leoice finally opened it. An exhausted Ash was the first thing the King saw when he swung the portal open. It wasn't an unpleasant sight for him to see.

Releaving himself from improper thoughts about the trainer, he let the boy in and after many failed attempts had managed to seat him down on one of the leather chairs before covering him in a waterfall of words of which neither managed to make head nor tails.

"Please explain", Leoice said, but before Ash could fervently continue his speech, he continue, "… without covering me in saliva." Ash had the decency to look ashamed and began to retell his tale, slowly and well mannered.

"I have found a solution to your problem!", Ash said enthusiastically. In his eyes shone dedication and pride. The way Leoice's eyes looked at him in desperation made him continue. "You need to trust me on this one, Leoice!" A small cough made Ash aware he still needed to address him in the proper way.

" Even though may sound weird to you, milord, I might have found a person willing to take over your role…", an uneasy silence was left hanging there, "… for a while. I wouldn't want anyone to be locked up here longer than necessary, but it might give us the time we need to figure out a way to end this curse."

Leoice's attitude had changed during Ash's speech and while he still looked excited he had this dampened look too. "I understand, I wouldn't want anyone, willing or not, to be locked in here forever either." A smile of acceptation graced Ash' face. "But tell me, my dear Guardian, what solution have you found?"

Suddenly Ash' plan felt stupid and weird, mainly because the person he was going to advise Leoice to give his throne to, didn't even know of the plan yet. Ash managed to push the insecurities to the back of his mind and made a brave appearance. With his head held high, he began to explain.

"I can only think of one person both willing and worthy of being your temporary replacement, my Liege", Ash explained, "Sir Lucario, while he is still a Pokémon, has shown me great dedication while training me. He too has shown both me and in the pas Sir Aaron great loyalty."

Ash' mind was spinning on top speed, while thinking of how to word every one of the million reasons he had for believing so blindly in his teacher. "But above all, I have seen how selfless he can be. It is the reason why he will not say no when I ask him. It is also the reason why I have proposed it to you first, milord."

Leoice took notice of all the emotions displayed on the teens face and the amount of dedication shown in the trainers eyes. He desperately wanted to believe in Ash, but even if he hadn't he was swayed by the words of flattery.

"I accept, as long as Sir Lucario agrees of course, but if your words are true, then I suppose that will be the least of our problems", Leoice said, before completely losing his composure and flinging himself into Ash, hugging him close.

Slowly he leaned his head closer to Ash' , breathing into the teen's ear heavily. Soflty he whispered the words that were heavy on his heart. "Thank you".

A chapter, mainly to show you that I haven't abandoned writing. No excuses for this being so late, except for the fact that I have started Univesity and that I plan to graduate without doing over anything!


	11. Upon my honor I swear

Upon my honor I swear

Awkwardly he untangled his arms form the Kings waist, took a step backwards, nearly falling over his own feet, upon which he had the need to look embarrassed. The small blush present on the trainer's face, made him look younger than he truly was.

But the king too was supporting a small discoloration of his cheeks, not nearly as bad as Ash' , but still quite noticeable. He recovered quickly however and went to sit down on one of the comfortable couches in the sitting area, his mouth turned into a broad smile while his back was turned to Ash and disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, when he turned to face his guardian.

"We should proceed to tell Sir Lucario tomorrow, today has been an exhausting day and likely you are about to fall over from the tension today has brought you", Leoice said, while patting the space next to him on the couch. Ash went , albeit reluctantly, to sit down next to Leoice. He hated the king's, better-than-thou attitude, but couldn't bring himself to struggle. Silence ruled the room as only the deep breathing of the people residing inside, could be heard. It wasn't long before Ash fell over from exhaustion. Laying his head down upon the lap of the person sitting next to him, his hair covering his face, hiding his smile as he slept.

Leoice dared not to move, until he was absolutely sure that his movements wouldn't awaken the teen currently using his legs as a cushion. Lovingly he raised his hand and laid it upon the teen's head. Stroking the black mess that was his hair. His face too supporting a rare smile, while not exhausted he enjoyed his dream-filled sleep, no worries, nor cares waking him, until finally he felt something stirring next to him.

A pain in his back began irritating Ash as he was slowly wakening. While trying to find a better position to lay in he noticed that it wasn't a bed he was sleeping in. Nor was his head supported by a pillow. Ash' eyes fluttered open and gazed at the room. Immediately he remembered what had transpired the day before.

He sat up too fast and his back complained loudly, but not before he was shocked by the fact that he had been using the king's legs as a pillow. Leoice now fully awakened by the gasp of surprise that had left the guardian's mouth, smiled meekly into nothingness.

"Good morning, Ash", Leoice said happily as he stretched out and yawned lightly. He stood up and straightened his suit, before stretching out his hand towards the trainer. "Good morning", Ash grumbled softly before grabbing Leoice's hand and standing up.

Like a mother lion would do her cub. Leoice scuffled Ash' hair once, before walking towards one of the mirrors in the room. His hands went through his hair a few times before he seemingly decided he looked adequate enough to go outside.

"We should go look for Sir Lucario, the sooner he agrees the sooner I can set up the ritual and thus the sooner you can show me the world", Leoice said teasingly, before opening the grand doors that opened up into the hallway leading towards the rest of the castle.

A small sprint and soon Ash had caught up with Leoice's long and strong paces, which had soon brought them to the dining area, where breakfast was already served. "Good morning, everyone", Leoice said, surprising some of the people at the table, but quick enough a chorus of _good mornings _followed.

Leoice seated himself at the head of the table, as it was befitted of any king, holding the cutlery securely in his delicate hands. Even though the fresh fruit juice was extraordinary, at least according to Ash, it was an otherwise uneventful breakfast. Soon enough everyone had finished eating their meal and before Lucario had time to leave, Leoice had requested he stay and kindly asked for the rest of them, with exception of Ash, to leave the room.

Lucario, still unaware of the request his King was going to make, reseated himself at the table. "What need do you have of me, my King?", Lucario said respectfully, while sneaking a glance at Ash, whom seemed very anxious.

"I am a King, required to judge possible guardians", Leoice began , " I have never been allowed to leave my chamber since I have been assigned my duty." Ash began fiddling his fingers, while Lucario still looked clueless.

"I wish to see my kingdom and the rest of the world, to explore and hopefully help" the King spoke passionately while his eyes seemed to shine as he told of his desires , " but above all, I wish to be relieved of my duty, if even for a while…" It was quiet in the hall after Leoice had finished his story, but neither guardian dared break it.

"There is a ritual, that will allow me to temporarily crown another guardian the King of Aura", Leoice explained , "it is not permanent, I cannot choose a new King, only Aura herself can do that, but even if I could, I'm not sure if I would be able to condemn someone to this life."

A smile made his way to Ash's face, not a goofy smile, but a smile that showed he was proud of the man he had to call his King. "What he means to say Lucario is that he is looking for someone to take his place for a while", the trainer said , "right, _my Liege_?"

Leoice smiled meekly at the way his guardian, cut straight to the point and nodded at the statement that was made. "It is as he says, but I could not give this position to someone whom I would not trust with my own life…" A small pause fell, before he continued. "… but a certain someone convinced me that there would be no better choice than you, Sir Lucario"

Disbelief was clearly visible on the Pokémon's face, but rejection and acceptation were the two choices clouding his mind, both fighting for dominance. There had been no clear winner, until Ash decided to speak up.

"If there ever was anyone to whom I'd entrust my life, Lucario, it would've been you. It didn't click between us at first, but I've never doubted your loyalty towards this land!" Ash's speech sounded passionate and by the way Lucario's expression changed it had tipped the proverbial scale, but to which side couldn't read from his expression alone.

No, for the answer one had to look in Lucario's eyes, they shone with determination. Slowly Lucario stood up, his chair shoved backwards, before he stepped closer to his King and fell to one knee. "I you deem me worthy of fulfilling your duty in you absence, milord, then I see no need to question your judgment. I will do everything in my power to live up to your standard", Lucario's gaze fixed upward into the sovereign's brown eyes, "I will not disappoint you!"

* * *

Yes, it's a late update blah..blah..  
By now people should have noticed I'm notoriously bad at updating. I'm sorry to say there is a very minimal chance I can better myself in that aspect, sorry. I still like to hear what you people think though and every time I see a Story Alert of Favorite being added it makes me more motivated to update this story. It makes me feel bad that I leave you hanging every chapter only to update months later, but I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


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